Append File Report

Background: 
This script will generate a report of the files you plan to append together to make sure there are no problems such as fields with the same name and different types.  This will look through all the files before you perform the append and generate a text report that you can review and make any corrections necessary.
Documentation: 

One of my biggest pet peaves with IDEA is that when you do an append and it gives you an error saying that the fields are different type, you go an make the change, start the append again and have the same problem.  This script allows you to create a report that will show before hand if there are any problems and in which file / field the problem is so you can make all the corrections before performing the append.

When you run the script you will see the following dialog:

In the top box you select the primary file, if a file is already open that will be the default.  In the bottom list box select the files you want to append to the primary file and then click on ok.  There is also the option to create the append file if there are no errors.

Once the script is complete it will show you the name of the report and the location it was saved, the default is the Results.ILB in the current project folder.

Open the report and you will find the following report.  The report shows the fields and field types for the primary file, all the append files will be compared with this file.

If the script finds a match and the field types are different it will show which fields are different and what is expected.  If the field doesn't exist in the primary file that will also be shown.

If there are no problems this will be noted under the filename.

Comments

send

This is extremely helpful.  Thanks for posting.  I am currently appending multiple datasets together with different field formats, and this is making the process of standardizing field types go much faster.  
 

Hi , thanks for the script in advanced. Im fresh new in idea, can you explain how to use the script from the scratch?.

Hi Brian,
This is really helpful, saves much time while appending many files together with so many fields
However, On trying, the databases are not getting listed in the "select files to append" List, only aqble to select the primary sheet. Your advice  and support will be highly appreciated!

Refreshing and am getting along